Kitchen Ledge Dish Washing

James washes dishes in his own unique way. Since standing on a ladder and reaching over to the sink is uncomfortable for him, he prefers squatting on the ledge and washing his allotment of dishes! It's fun to watch him!!!

Random Family Photos

We recently went up to Jack's Ridge, a resteraunt area that overlooks Davao City. Here are a few photos from that recent Sunday lunch.

First Date for Kirsten

Kirsten's 16th birthday was yesterday (June 19). We had a fun day celebrating her.

Tonight, Kurt took her on her first date to Claude's, a very nice French resteraunt here in Davao.


walking down the road to catch a taxi to the resteraunt.


Claude's Resteraunt

We thank God for Kirsten and the beautiful young woman she is growing in to.

Kids in the Kitchen

One of my summer goals is to teach each of my children cooking skills.

James loves mixing up cookies, cake, bread dough, etc. The other day he helped me make tortilla shells.

Each child is assigned making supper one night per week. The other night Ben, with my assistance, made chicken fingers. He didn't like the hot oil spatter but he did an excellent job on the meal. He also recently made shoyu chicken - the recipe is listed below, along with a bread stick recipe and a tuna boat recipe which is a family favourite!

Kirsten and her friend, Joy, recently made delicious chocolate chip cookies.

James and his friends Whit and Sojo recently made fun-shaped breadsticks with the help of Mikayla!

Breadsticks

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup olive oil or melted butter
3/4 cup milk
Mix together well. Pull small egg size pieces of dough and roll into breadstick form.
Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 12 - 18 minutes at 425 degrees fahrenheit.
Brush with additional melted butter that has 2 garlic cloves crushed into it. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve warm.

Manila Guest House Tuna Boats

1 cup grated cheese
1 can tuna
2 hard boiled eggs
2 T chopped onion
2 T pickle relish
1/3 cup mayonnaise
Line muffin tins with slices of buttered bread. Put tuna mixture in each bread. Bake in oven 5 - 10 minutes until edges of bread are browned and mixture warmed.
Makes 12.

Shoyu Chicken

1 ½ cups sugar (white or brown or ¾ cup each)
1 ½ cups soy sauce
4 ½ cups water
1 inch of grated ginger root or 1 tsp powdered ginger
3 garlic cloves pressed
¼ cup lemon or kalamansi juice

Place above ingredients in large saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add cut up chicken.
Bring to boil again and cook for 45 minutes.

Serve with fresh, hot rice.

R.A.F.T. Builing

In about six months we will be transitioning out of the Philippines, after living here 8 years, to the USA to resettle in Michigan.

The late Dave Pollock,an authority on third culture kids (TCKs), transitions and internationally mobile families, prepared very helpful transition materials including this tool to help missionaries and family members leave well.

Imagine building a raft lashing the following four "logs" together before making a transition - this applies not only to moving half way around the world, but any transition.

Reconciliation

Farewells

Affirmation

Think Destination

Reconciliation--Any time we face a move from one place to another, it's easy to deal with tensions in relationships by ignoring them. We think "I won't see these people again, so why bother trying to work out our differences?" When we refuse to resolve our interpersonal conflicts we ignore the whole process of closure and are unable to move on and build the rest of our RAFT.

We carry with us the mental baggage of unresolved problems. Old discontentment can interfere with starting new relationships. Reconciliation includes both the need to forgive and be forgiven. How that is done depends on many factors, but we have to be sure we are doing all we can do to reconcile any broken relationships before leaving.

Affirmation--Acknowledge that each person in our relationships matter. Do things like tell your coworkers how you have enjoyed working with them, your friends how important their friendship has been, give a note of appreciation to your neighbors for their kindness, reassure your parents and siblings of your love and respect and that you don't leave them lightly. Part of closure is acknowledging our blessings--both to rejoice in them and properly mourn their passing.

Farewells--Saying goodbye to people, places, pets, possessions in culturally appropriate ways is important if we don't want to have deep regrets later. We need to schedule time for these farewells during the last few days and weeks. Openly acknowledging this time as a true goodbye is important. If you have children, be sure you schedule time for them to say goodbye to these significant ones in their lives, as well.

Think Destination--Even as we are saying goodbye, we need to be thinking realistically about our destination. Where are we going? What are some positives and negatives we can expect to find once we get there? What are our external support structures and our internal resources for coping with the problems we might find? Who can help us adjust?

There is no way we can avoid the chaos and confusion of the transition process. We can keep in mind that it is normal, and that it will pass if we hang on long enough. Leaving right is a key to entering right.

Pray for our children and us as we build our r.a.f.t.'s.

--information taken from http://faithdlc.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/building-a-raft-before-a-transition/ - -